We Found Hope in a Strange Place
by youngnozomi
Summary: Elliot follows Oz to a strip club because of Break's dare. The two meet a girl that seems out of place there and her over-protective brother. Can Elliot help the short tempered boy out? Why do Alice and Leo work at such a place anyways? What does their past and their future hold in store? ElliotxLeo as the main pairing with OzxAlice as a secondary pairing.


A/N: In honor of Pandora Hearts ending, here is my attempt at making the fandom keep on living. Main Pairing is ElliotxLeo with a Secondary Pairing of OzxAlice. I like OzxAlice, Ozbert, and GilxAlice. But you will see why Oz and Alice is a better couple for this story. I am uploading another story soon that will be ElliotxLeo and side Ozbert. I just need to proofread the work. More pairings will appear later like AlyssxChesire but that a while away.

I hope you enjoy the first chapter. I have a few surprises I've already planned for later chapters. But you'll have to wait for those parts. Enough of my blabbing, here's chapter one!

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Chapter 1

"You Can't Bribe Me!"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

_Honestly, how do I always wind up getting dragged into these situations? _That is one of the many thoughts nagging in the mind of Elliot Nightray.

In this situation Elliot hopes to any greater power in this this world that no one he knows will see him now excluding the one that brought him along.

"How are you holding up Elliot?" Came the way too excited voice of Oz Vessalius.

Elliot glares his sapphire eyes in annoyance towards his companion. "Why the hell do you look so happy?" Elliot can feel the need to punch his shorter friend.

Oz sighs. "I told you before Elliot. If you don't seem confident we'll be thrown out at the entrance."

"Good!"

Another sigh came as Oz ran a hand through his blonde hair. "But Elliot if they find out our real age, they'll ask for our real name and call our family! Think of all the rumors that will spread and how the Great Nightray and Vessalius households will be shamed."

Elliot flinches slightly then regains his edge. "Then why don't we just not go! Who cares about some stupid dare that Xerxes Break gave you?" Elliot hates the idea of bringing any shame to his family, one of the four wealthiest families in the country. Oz's family is another one of the four families as well but Oz doesn't have the best relationship with his father, the head.

"Elliot, think about the reward! Break promised to do anything I wanted for a day. Please. Let's pay him back for all his tricks he's played on us." Oz starts tugging at Elliot's jacket, pleading.

"This is probably another trick you idiot!" Elliot snaps. "Why don't you get Gilbert to go with you?"

"There's no way Gil would allow me to sneak into a place like this!" Oz points to the destination the two arrived at.

A brick, three story building with a lipstick red double door and shutters of the same hue looms in front of the two teens. The name "Wonderland's Castle" is spelled out on the signboard above the entrance. There were two tall men granting entrance into the building.

Elliot's face pales. He turns to pat his friend's shoulder. "Congratulations Oz. You've made it so now I'm leaving."

"Elliot!" Oz whines. "Please, don't make me go alone. I'll make notes from our classes for you since you suck at note taking. Please~~!"

"You can't bribe me Vessalius!" Elliot yells.

Oz thinks quickly and blocks Elliot's path. "Elliot… Don't tell me you're scared?"

"What?"

"You always boast about not ever being scared yet you're scared of Break, aren't you?"

"I'm not! I just see no point in going to some stupid business that gets its keep by having women strip for men." Elliot attempts to pass Oz.

"You've never seen a picture of women in little clothing before. It's the same thing, just in person. They don't take it all off. Elliot do you have a fear of females?" Oz starts laughing.

"I do not. Stop laughing. I'm just not interested in this."

"Hmmm… Maybe you'd prefer it if it were guys on the stage then?"

Elliot could not believe what his friend was saying. Sure he had no interest at the girls whom he attended school with. But that does not mean he won't find one or that he is into men.

"Elliot how's this? If you go in there with me, I'll strip for you later." Oz says holding his chest in mock embarrassment.

"How about I knock you out?" Elliot glares only to see Oz with a huge grin.

"Y-you prefer taking advantage of people when they cannot move?" Oz gasps as he dodges a punch hurled at him from Elliot. "You have an odd fetish."

"Drop it now."

Oz goes back to plan one. "Please Elliot. I thought we were friends. I'm the only friend you have at school. What will happen if I go in there alone and get in trouble? You'll be all alone!"

Alone? As strange as it may sound that threat got to Elliot. Both Elliot and Oz often get ignored by peers because of their wealth. Some upper classmen tried to attack the two boys for their money once. Luckily, Elliot can handle most fistfights. However after that incident the seniors seemed more terrified of Oz then angry at Elliot. Elliot had witnessed Oz whispering to the attackers, now victims, but never was able to get a straight answer as to what the petite blonde had said.

Elliot knew that his family lives about three hours from here. Only two of his brothers live with him. One works long hours as a doctor's assistant while the other one…. He is a little off. Being alone at school would actually annoy Elliot since he finally was able to make a friend in his grade.

Elliot sighs then turns away from Oz. "F-fine! Since you can't take care of yourself I'll go." Elliot felt Oz grab his arm and lead him towards the building. "Y-you still owe me."

Oz smiles. "Yeah. I do."

Inside is crowded. Too crowded for Elliot but that is good. The two are able to be ushered in without even having to pull out their false ID cards. For that Elliot feels relief.

At first the two did steal a few glances at the women but they lost interest in the older women pretty quickly. "Oi, Oz." Elliot starts. "How long do we need to stay for this dare to count?"

Oz sighs and pulls out a watch. "We still have a few more hours…"

"I think I prefer doing tests at school…"

"I wonder how Ada is…" Oz blabbers trying to start a conversation.

"Your sister is probably reading her horror novels again." Came the bored reply.

"Sounds like her. Hey remember when she told that story to us about the demon cat?"

Elliot laughs. "Yeah. My brother is still terrified of cats."

"Poor, poor Gil." Oz starts to laugh.

"What are you two laughing about? The drunks or the fact that I fell down?" Came an accusing voice from behind Oz.

The two look towards a girl who looks a little too young to work here. The girl's dark eyes glare at the teens. A bit of cake can be seen in her long brown hair and red dress.

Tired of no response, she speaks again. "You were laughing at me. That person bumped into me. It was their fault! Now my cake is ruined!"

"You care more about the cake than your pretty red dress and hair?" Oz questions turning on his charm.

"Of course!" The girl exclaims. "Since you made fun of me you go and get me more cake, servant." The girl points at Oz.

Elliot starts laughing. "Servant…."

Oz glares at his laughing friend. "I'm sorry miss. I don't mind getting you more cake but we were laughing at a story. Not you." The girl did not seem convinced with just that explanation so Oz continued. "You see one of our friends is scared of cats because of a story he heard when he was younger. We were just remembering the story."

"…He's scared of kittens? Is he stupid?" The girl smirks.

"My brother is not stupid!" Elliot retorts.

"He sounds dumb. My sibling isn't afraid of any animal and neither am I." The girl boasts.

"Well he isn't dumb miss but he does get scared at times. You must have things you don't like too." Oz says taking a napkin from his pocket to dab at the cake tangled in the girl's hair.

"Yep. I don't like being hungry." She admits.

"There is still some cake in your hair. Do you have a brush and some water?" Oz asks with a smile.

The girl debates something then grabs Oz's hand and pulls him to an 'employee's only area' as Elliot follows the two. "My room is one the top floor. My things are there. I like you. So you can come up."

"You work here… um…" Oz starts.

"Alice is my name. My brother works here. He made a deal with the owner. He cooks for the bar and in return we can live here. Since we don't have parents." Alice talks.

"Alice you shouldn't be telling strangers such personal stuff to strangers." Elliot states bluntly.

"I've told you my name and once I know both of your names then we ain't strangers anymore. Stupidity must run in your family." Alice retorts.

Oz laughs. "Alice. Stupidity gallops in Elliot's family!"

"What was that Oz?" Elliot yells.

The two stop while Alice unlocks a door. "You can come in Oz and El….short tempered guy."

"Elliot!" Elliot corrects Alice and follows Oz into the room.

"Wow!" Oz exclaims. "Your room is really cool Alice. Look at all these books. This is much nicer than downstairs. Right Elliot?"

Elliot looks around and must agree. "Y-yeah."

Alice picks up a brush from the dresser and sits down on one of the two beds. "You can sit on my bed or the ground. Don't sit on the other bed though."

Oz skips over to Alice and sits down. Elliot looks at the two beds. One has tons of books and paper on it while the one occupied by Oz and Alice has a few stuffed animals.

Oz finishes helping Alice fix her hair and then picks up a stuffed rabbit. "This is really cute. My sis would love one."

"Really? I can make one for ya, Oz. As thanks for helping with my hair and dress. I made him a while ago." Alice smiles.

"You made this Alice? It's wonderful. Did you ever take lessons?"

"Nah. My brother taught me how after he read it in a book." Alice says blushing slightly.

"You keep talking about your brother. Do you have a complex or something?" Elliot says remembering one of his brother's love for Gilbert.

"Elliot…" Oz warns. "Alice. Don't worry. He's just upset that I'm paying attention to you."

"Am not." Elliot snaps back as he goes over and sits down on the floor.

"Is complex a brand of chocolate or something?" Alice questions.

"No stupid. I mean you seem to be in love with your brother." Elliot says while rolling his eyes.

"Elliot. Don't compare her to Vincent." Oz scolds his friend. "Alice, how much older is your brother than you?"

"Isn't that a personal question?"

"Don't be so rigid Elliot. I'm seventeen and Elliot is sixteen. Alice, you don't need to say your age. I was just wondering about how old your brother is."

"Why did you tell her our age? You idiot!" Elliot's need to punch Oz starts to resurface.

"Calm down. You need to relax. We're all friends." Oz laughs surprising the other two. "Hey Elliot. Doesn't her brother sound like Gil? I was just wondering how much of an age difference there is."

Elliot opens his mouth to speak but Alice is faster. "Really? We're friends?" Her eyes open wide as she stares at Oz.

"Was I wrong in saying that?" Oz pouts.

"Nah. It's cool." The girl smiles. Alice starts fidgeting with her plush rabbit. "I don't really have friends. I mean… yeah I have my brother and I like being with him but some things are hard to tell him."

"Same with Elliot and me! I have a sister but I don't want to burden her all the time. Elliot's brother is cool but he's older so it's sometimes hard to meet up with him." Oz smiles softly. "But Elliot and I don't really have any friends besides each other at school."

Elliot would normally be upset with Oz telling such personal things but Oz really never opens up so much so he instead just follows the talk between the two.

"I don't go to school. I mean not in a building. My brother teaches me. I would like to go but I can't really afford the time to go. Is your school fun?" Alice asks eyes full of wonder. "I did go to a school near the place we used to live but… it wasn't warm. I got good results on work yet people were mad about it. I didn't understand it."

"They must have been jealous of your grades Alice. There are kids like that at every school, including ours. Our school is pretty academic so for the most part all attendees are good at school or they are focused on sports. There are a few jackasses but for the most part we don't have enemies there. Then again we don't exactly have any other friends." Elliot states. "I guess I'm kind of hard to approach…"

"That's because of your temper Elliot. So Alice… Your brother teaches you? Has he already completed high school?" Oz figures the man probably couldn't go to college because of work.

"My brother? He only went to school the same time I did so around elementary school he stopped going." Came the answer.

The two boys are in silence for a moment then Oz speaks. "So your brother must be a lot older than you if he can tutor."

Alice shakes her head. "Actually… both of us are the same age as you." She says gesturing to Elliot.

"You're both sixteen…" Oz says sounding happier about finding out Alice's age than being surprised about the brother's.

Elliot is the one with surprise in his voice when he talks. "He teaches you even though he barely went to school and you're the same age? Surely he's not as smart as you seem to think."

Oz glares while Alice smirks. "If you don't believe me look at his bookshelf. He's smarter then you if you can only learn through a school teacher holding your hand."

"What did you just say?" Elliot yells bolting up from his spot on the ground.

Oz laughs. "Uh-oh. He's mad. Maybe Alice's comment is true."

"As if." Elliot walks over to the shelf intent on laughing at the contents.

After a few silent moments Oz walks over. "What's wrong Elliot? Why so quiet?" Oz stops as he looks at the book Elliot is staring at. "Doesn't Gil have this medical book? Hey look at this Elliot! Uncle has this art book."

"I'm recall seeing some of these books in the principal's office." Elliot notes.

"I wouldn't know. I've never be sent there for fighting, unlike you. I'm well-read but some of these books were too academic even for my tastes." Oz says in awe.

Alice clears her throat and stares at the two teens. "Have anything to say now?"

"Alice wins this round Elliot." Oz says.

Even though Oz is right Elliot hates giving in. Elliot compromises by stating, "So you have a smart brother, I don't see why I should praise you for it."

"As long as you realize that my brother is smart." Alice says calmly.

"So does he have any faults?" Oz laughs.

"Duh! Of course he does." Alice replies not missing a beat. "He might be smart but he's bad at talking to people. He's also waaay too protective of me. He has a real short temper as well."

"Well, at least he's human." Elliot sighs relieved.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

A loud sneeze greets a pink haired woman as she enters the room where the chef was changing. "Boy, I told you to go to the doctors for that cold."

"I have a name and it's not 'Boy'. Also stop entering when I'm changing, Lottie." Comes the teen's response.

"Right Kid. Believe me, I couldn't care less about your body." Lottie teases.

"It's not 'Kid' either. Nor is it 'Kiddo'." He states about to leave, undoing the tie in his long black hair. "Also I'm not sick. One of the girls is probably talking about me."

Lottie smiles. "Twerp, if that is what the real reason is you would always be sneezing."

Sighing the boy turns his eyes to her, not that one could get a good look since they are covered by such think lens glasses. "Lottie what do you want?"

"Nothing… Just thought you should know that Alice is up in her room with two guys." She stares at the polish on her right hand.

The boy scoffs. "You must be drunk to think I'd fall for such a trick. You told me a bit earlier that you had not seen her since this morning."

"I haven't but one of the other girls said she took two boys upstairs. She asked me if I knew how much they paid her for."

"Enough! Alice would never do that. She must have been lying." He yells but quiets down so only Lottie can hear.

"The women here lie to you not to me. Also I know cute little Alice wouldn't do that but that doesn't mean two guys didn't trick her into something. She is a little gullible, your sister that is." Lottie looks to see the boy dash in the direction of the room he shares with his sister. "Punch those two once for me Leo!" She yells as Leo disappears from her sight.

Leo reaches the third floor panting. He hopes that the woman saw wrong. Leo reaches the room that he and his sister, Alice share. He could hear laughter from inside that most definitely sounded male. Not good. His mind floods with bad scenarios as he grasps his key, slams it into the doorknob, and yanks open the door.

Leo sees Alice on her bed next to a short blonde boy and there is another with beige hair near the bookshelf. All three turn to look at Leo. "You're dead!" Leo screams running to the one that was closer to his sister. Leo easily grabs the boy's arm and throws him to the floor. He quickly goes in front of Alice blocking from the intruders. "Alice, are you alright?"

"Ow… Short temper indeed." The blonde says rising.

"Don't just toss someone before you know the situation!" The beige boy yells. He attempts to advance towards Leo.

Leo is unsure if the boy approaching is trying to help his comrade or attack Alice. Leo was not about to take a chance. "Don't come any closer! I'll kill you!" Leo yells trying to appear as threatening as possible. "How dare you two."

"Leo stop!" Alice screams. "Oz and Elliot are my friends."

"Oh really? And exactly how long have you known these friends, Alice?"

"We met today…" She says softly.

Leo turns to face Alice. "Are you crazy? Why would you bring two men you don't know to your bedroom?"

"Don't yell at me Leo! We're the same age. I don't need you treating me like a child." Alice yells. "We are friends! I could easily beat up the two of them if they tried to do anything weird to me."

"You're insane!"

"Why are you calling you're sister insane?" Oz finally speaks up. "Listen I'll leave. Please don't fight."

"Stay out of this you! You have some nerve coming here. My sister doesn't work here. Go somewhere else for your fun!" Leo holds back the need to cough, the need to rest. He can't show weakness right now.

"Leo! They came here for a dare. Neither of them were looking at the show when I ran into them. We've been talking about school and books and food and things like that. They are our age. They actually talk to me!" Alice cries out. "No one here, except Lottie, ever spends any time with me."

Leo stops and for a brief moment it seems peaceful. "So… in other words. They used fake IDs to get in." Leo walks over to Elliot. "I could get the two of you thrown out and I should!"

Alice runs in between her brother and her two friends. "Stop it."

"Move Alice. I'm going to get the owner."

Alice freezes then grits her teeth. "You would go get that jerk to make it so I have no friends?"

"Alice…I" Realizing his sister's anger, Leo starts to feel even more sick.

Alice slaps Leo lightly. She though it was light but it causes Leo to fall down. "Leo?" She kneels down and notices her brother in pain. "Leo? What's wrong? You're soaked with sweat!"

Leo's attempt to speak turns into a coughing fit.

"Is he sick? Does he need a doctor?" Oz asks concerned.

"Move." Elliot says lightly pushing Alice out of the way. Elliot uses his hand to move Leo's long hair away. Upon touching Leo's forehead he remarks, "He has a fever. All that shouting and quick movements must have made it worse."

Oz looks over to Alice. The concern over her brother's state apparent with one glance. Oz tries to quell Alice's fear by gently squeezing her hand. "It's okay Alice. We'll help. He'll be fine."

"You don't understand Oz! I- I've seen people in our type of situation die from common sicknesses… Now Leo is-"

"Will you be quiet?" Elliot's voice isn't loud but the two follow the command anyways. "I'm trying to work here."

"Alice." Oz says taking the girl's other hand in his. "Elliot's helped quiz his brother on health exams. He can handle a fever. Elliot. How can we help?"

"Oz, you can move the books and papers off his bed. Alice, I'm going to need you to run and bring me back a cold washcloth. Also if you have any fever reduces bring them here." Elliot orders the two.

Oz starts to transfer the items from on top of the bed and into a few stacks on the floor.

Elliot sees Alice in the same spot staring at her brother. "Hurry up! Now's the time to act. Wish about acting differently later." Elliot exclaims while picking up Leo.

"I'll be back Leo!" Alice says in the midst of running out of the room.

"Elliot, I've cleared the bed." Oz states as pulls back the covers.

"Will you quit it?" Elliot yells at Leo in response to the sick teen's struggles and punches. "Do you want to fall? What will happen to your sister if you have to go to the hospital from a concussion?"

Leo ceases his attacks on Elliot.

Alice returns with the cold washcloth, a water bottle, and a slice of cake. She sees Elliot adjusting Leo into a lying position on the bed.

Oz comes over and takes the wet fabric. After he hands the fabric to Elliot, Oz stands next to Alice "…Did the stress make you hungry?"

Alice shakes her head. "Lottie said Leo didn't eat at all during his shift. He starts preparing the food early. Today he also had to buy some ingredients so he worked even longer than usual… I was eating but he was working while sick and hungry."

"I wasn't hungry today is all." Leo says quietly. "I didn't mean to worry you and Lottie."

"You might have caught a virus if you haven't been eating but aren't hungry yet." Elliot tells Leo. After wiping off the sweat Elliot puts the cloth onto a nightstand.

"Should we call Gil? Oh, that's a friend of mine and one of Elliot's brothers who's also working to become a doctor." Oz adds the extra part for Leo to clarify.

The door opens. Lottie looks at Alice, Oz, Elliot, and finally Leo. "You've lost your edge if you passed out before hitting these boys even once."

"I didn't pass out." Leo replies.

"Really with how frantic Alice was I assumed you had. She was all 'Lottie help me~~' and 'Leo's dying~~'. So I came up to give my final respects and take back the money he owes me."

"I wasn't like that! I just asked you if we had any medicine for fevers. Then you said he'd been sick for a while." Alice fumes.

"Leo was able to throw Oz before falling over." Elliot states not needing to look at Oz to know the face he was making. "Bested by a guy who's apparently dying. What does Leo owe you anyways?"

"Three dollars and eight cents. Here." Lottie tosses a plastic bag to Elliot. "Nice catch. Leo isn't coordinated enough to pull that off."

Elliot takes out a medicine bottle and bill from the bag that had cost three dollars and eight cent after tax.

"I'm not going back out even if the medicine is the wrong brand."

"Brand's fine. It will work. Alice can you hand over the water?" Elliot inquires while handing Leo two pills to swallow.

"Alice you don't need any more cake." Lottie teases.

"They were both for Leo!" Alice yells handing the water to Elliot and placing the cake dish one the nightstand.

"By the way you two…" Lottie begins. "We're almost closed. You might want to leave ahead of the drunks."

Elliot stands up and walks over to Oz. "Thanks for the advice. We should be going. I'll have my brother take a look at him tomorrow…"

"Where? Do you really want your brother to know where you were tonight?"

"You have to leave Oz?" Alice says sadly already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. But…" Oz gives Elliot a look and continues. "We'll be back tomorrow. Gil should take a look at Leo."

"I'll tell the owner that you passed out when walking up the stairs. We can manage without the main chef for a bit." Lottie adds. "I have some friends that can cover your position until you get better."

"Sorry." Leo mumbles from his bed. "You should jeopardize yourself for me. Having to lie to him and any girls who ask."

"Agh! It's not just you. Did you forget the three others in this room trying to help you out? I'm helping them too. Don't get conceited." Lottie leaves while saying, "You still owe me that money."

"Bye, Alice. See you two tomorrow." Oz states.

"Wait!" Leo yells or tries to in his condition. "Alice… I'm sorry to ask this but can you show them the back way to the exit? Probably better if they aren't seen by others. Lottie's already trying to cover for us."

"Trusting us now?" Comes Elliot's remark.

"I can always tell Alice to stay with me."

"I'll take them down!" Was Alice's all too eager reply. Grabbing Elliot's arm and holding Oz's hand Alice lead the two visitors out of the room.

Leo had to stifle a laugh. Maybe Alice wasn't in need of such protection. Maybe Alice could judge a person's character fine. But then again what sane two guys would do what they did. The two were certainly odd.

Leo hopes to himself that maybe one of those two guys could help Alice be happy. He didn't want to push luck by asking for his own happiness on top of Alice's.

Even though Leo didn't wish for his own happiness, he couldn't being happy. Leo fell asleep with a smile on his face.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

I'm in graduate school so I hope I can find time to update over some breaks. I love this story. Alice with Leo as a sibling is so cute! Alyss will appear later. But like Leo says "spoiling a story is an unforgivable sin."

Please review about your thoughts. Having more PH friends means more feels to share.


End file.
